by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The people who drafted and then updated the Constitution of the United States regarded the concept of "due process" as so important that it became the only constitutional directive to be mentioned twice in that hallowed old document. The clause first appears in the Fifth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, with an admonition that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." Then, eighty years or so later after America's great war with itself, new Amendments were added to help with the assimilation of former slaves into society. That same clause became part of the Fourteenth Amendment - the same eleven words, verbatim.
But sometimes "due process" is a hard bar to master. As a child abuse investigator for several years I quickly learned the need to believe children who summoned the courage to come forward and tell their tales of abuse, often unimaginable abuse. If the alleged perpetrator was a person of means, he or she would quickly lawyer-up with a attorney whose sole focus quickly turned to demonizing child witnesses and making them seem as though they literally wrecked their home lives in order to promote some evil crusade against a parent, guardian, sibling, neighbor, or other child care provider. Child centers were set up which allowed for victim children to go through a single interview in which all parties were allowed to ask their questions in a setting that was safe for the child - and statements were videotaped for presentation in court - as another safety measure for the child. (It's hard for a lawyer to badger and trip-up a tape.)
And it works much the same with adult victims and witnesses. Lawyers who attack children in open court are also the same types of individuals who try to make the victims of rape look as though they were "asking for it" and try to discount the stories of victims of domestic abuse. Maintaining "due process" and "fairness" becomes a bit like juggling eggs in a hurricane.
Somebody briefed Donald Trump on "due process" recently, and since acquiring this fresh bit of legalese, he decided to make it his own. This weekend after White House staff secretary Rob Porter was fired, or allowed to resign, Trump has been on an emotional bender lamenting how unfair that action was because Porter says he is innocent - and shouldn't he have some of that "due process" stuff. It now appears that members of the White House staff, including Chief of Staff John Kelly, knew about allegations from two ex-wives and a former girlfriend for months, but continued to let him serve. It was the good-old-boy network functioning at its finest.
But now somebody has told Donald Trump about "due process" and Trump, who has himself been accused of domestic and sexual abuse by several women, is righteously pissed off. Porter says he is innocent, so there should be a process to determine his guilt or innocence - just as there should also be a process to determine Donald Trump's guilt or innocence - like that's ever going to happen!
One has to wonder if Mr. Trump's out-of-control Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers would look with equal fervor on giving due process to the employed parents and taxpayers, some of whom served in our military, as they are grabbed off of American streets and quickly shipped to shithole countries without any regard for their lives, liberty, or property.
Yeah Donald, let's talk "due process,'' but not until you are ready to share the concept with all of our friends and neighbors - and not just the white ones who work for you!
Citizen Journalist
The people who drafted and then updated the Constitution of the United States regarded the concept of "due process" as so important that it became the only constitutional directive to be mentioned twice in that hallowed old document. The clause first appears in the Fifth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, with an admonition that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." Then, eighty years or so later after America's great war with itself, new Amendments were added to help with the assimilation of former slaves into society. That same clause became part of the Fourteenth Amendment - the same eleven words, verbatim.
But sometimes "due process" is a hard bar to master. As a child abuse investigator for several years I quickly learned the need to believe children who summoned the courage to come forward and tell their tales of abuse, often unimaginable abuse. If the alleged perpetrator was a person of means, he or she would quickly lawyer-up with a attorney whose sole focus quickly turned to demonizing child witnesses and making them seem as though they literally wrecked their home lives in order to promote some evil crusade against a parent, guardian, sibling, neighbor, or other child care provider. Child centers were set up which allowed for victim children to go through a single interview in which all parties were allowed to ask their questions in a setting that was safe for the child - and statements were videotaped for presentation in court - as another safety measure for the child. (It's hard for a lawyer to badger and trip-up a tape.)
And it works much the same with adult victims and witnesses. Lawyers who attack children in open court are also the same types of individuals who try to make the victims of rape look as though they were "asking for it" and try to discount the stories of victims of domestic abuse. Maintaining "due process" and "fairness" becomes a bit like juggling eggs in a hurricane.
Somebody briefed Donald Trump on "due process" recently, and since acquiring this fresh bit of legalese, he decided to make it his own. This weekend after White House staff secretary Rob Porter was fired, or allowed to resign, Trump has been on an emotional bender lamenting how unfair that action was because Porter says he is innocent - and shouldn't he have some of that "due process" stuff. It now appears that members of the White House staff, including Chief of Staff John Kelly, knew about allegations from two ex-wives and a former girlfriend for months, but continued to let him serve. It was the good-old-boy network functioning at its finest.
But now somebody has told Donald Trump about "due process" and Trump, who has himself been accused of domestic and sexual abuse by several women, is righteously pissed off. Porter says he is innocent, so there should be a process to determine his guilt or innocence - just as there should also be a process to determine Donald Trump's guilt or innocence - like that's ever going to happen!
One has to wonder if Mr. Trump's out-of-control Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers would look with equal fervor on giving due process to the employed parents and taxpayers, some of whom served in our military, as they are grabbed off of American streets and quickly shipped to shithole countries without any regard for their lives, liberty, or property.
Yeah Donald, let's talk "due process,'' but not until you are ready to share the concept with all of our friends and neighbors - and not just the white ones who work for you!
1 comment:
You may have stirred your Fourteenth Amendment, Due Process of Law into your Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause. Since 1992 the Supreme Court has recognized an exception to the Hearsay Rule which applies to child victims of sexual crimes appearing in court and testifying against those who violated them. The heart of Rehnquist's rationale appears late in the opinion. He said "The Court concluded that witness unavailability was not necessary
in order to admit out-of-court statements, which fell into established
exceptions to the hearsay rule, namely spontaneous
declarations and statements made while securing medical treatment."
10 9 As a result, the Court did not find a violation of the petitioner's
Sixth Amendment rights and upheld the judgment..." White v. Illinois, 112 S. Ct. 736 (1992). Readers may enjoy Anthony Porcelli's legal scholarship on this subject at https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.bing.com/&httpsredir=1&article=6760&context=jclc.
Post a Comment